NE-CAT operates synchrotron X-ray beamlines at the newly upgraded Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Laboratory, funded by our member institutions and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). The APS-U has dramatically increased the brilliance of the X-ray source opening new possibilities for the most technically demanding challenges in structural biology. With 75% of beam time dedicated to the national user community, NE-CAT remains one of the most accessible and impactful structural biology resources in the country.

24-ID-C is our multi-wavelength beamline.

• Uses the out-board-projecting up-stream undulator
• Energy range between 6.5 – 15 keV.
• A focused beam of approximately 1.5x10¹³ Photons/Sec
• A focal spot size variable down to 23 µm horizonal X 5 µm vertically.
• Beam has an energy bandwidth of ΔE/E ~1 x 10-4 at an energy of ~12.66 keV at one sigma.
• Beam stable to a few microns.
• Fast monochromatic rotary beam shutters with opening and closing times less than 5 msec, synchronized precisely with the motion state of the crystallographic spindle.
• MD3-UP diffractometer with a vertical Ω-axis. 200nm sphere of confusion. Optional mini-kappa, MK3, available on demand.
• Modified ALS style sample automounter with a capacity of thirty pucks.
• Oxford Cryo-Jet crystal cryocoolers. (100K to 300K)
• Amptek Silicon Drift Diode detectors for emission line scans and rapid identification of metals in crystalline or non-crystalline samples.
• Dectris EIGER2 X 16M pixel array detector. Detector can be lifted up to four modules. Maximum crystal-to-detector distance is 1200 mm and minimum is 150 mm. Shutter-less data collection and noiseless readouts improve the data quality significantly.

24-ID-E is our monowavelength beamline.

• Uses the inboard-projecting down-stream undulator
• A fixed energy at 12.66 keV, with a fixed take-off angle (2Θ) of 29.5^o.
• A focused beam of approximately 1x10¹³ Photons/Sec
• A focal spot size 5 µm horizontal by 5 µm vertical at 1 sigma and 20 µm horizontal by 20 µm vertical at 3 sigma.
• A beam with an energy bandwidth of ΔE/E <2 x 10-4 at an energy of ~12.66 keV at 1 sigma.
• A beam that is stable to 1-2 microns.
• MD2 diffractometer, with sphere of confusion of less than 3µ (less than 7µ with mini-kappa mounted). MD2 beam shaping system provides very clean beams from 5 microns to 100 microns in diameter and has exceptional sample visualization systems capable of visualizing micron-sized crystals with extreme clarity.
• Modified ALS style sample automounter with a capacity of fourteen pucks.
• Oxford Cryo-Jet crystal cryocoolers. (100K to 300K).
• Amptek Silicon Drift Diode detectors for rapid identification of metals in crystalline or non-crystalline samples.
• Dectris EIGER 16M. The detector can be lifted up to four modules. Maximum crystal-to-detector distance is 1200 mm and minimum is 150 mm. Shutter-less data collection and noiseless readouts improve the data quality significantly.

NE-CAT maintains a chemistry laboratory for use by its resident staff members and beam line users adjacent to the Sector 24-ID beamlines. The laboratory is equipped for protein crystallization and crystal soaking experiments. Chemicals normally used are readily available as well as routine chemical equipment such as analytical balances, a pH meter, an ultrasound dismembrator, a table-top refrigerated shaker, a high-speed refrigerated Eppendorf centrifuge, a UV/Vis spectrophotometer, and three high-power stereo zoom microscopes. In addition, there is a Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer available for fast and precise characterization of molecular weights and concentrations of proteins and DNA, and a dynamic light scattering apparatus which can be used to provide unique insights into the behavior of biomolecules in solution by measuring the hydrodynamic radius and polydispersity of macromolecules. There are also two temperature controlled incubators:  18 ºC and 21 ºC.

Data storage: Two tiers: 500TB NVMe, and over 1.5PB of spinning disk storage

High-speed network: 200 Gb/s Infiniband

Computing cluster: 504 core cluster running Warewulf 4, OpenHPC 3, and SLURM job scheduler

For room temperature experiments, NE-CAT has developed a portable humidity chamber with MiTeGen which can be assembled in the lab or in the beamline work area for harvesting and mounting of crystals which require high humidity conditions.

• A humidity-controlling device – HC1 is available to test the possibility of improving the diffraction by a small change of relative humidity of crystals.